yesterday i got home from work and decided to buy a case of beer because, why not?
it’s monday.
the shop is conveniently round the corner from my place.
Its gotta be so fun to have an IQ just limited enough that you believe a tiny religious group is actually right when it tells you that you are one of the "chosen" and therefore have the right to judge all the losers around you. So fun! "The 'real' (TM) life!"
Me? I'm just rattling around on planet earth living in the real world accepting people as they come, happy in the knowledge that wonderful things happen in life and the next one could be just around the corner.
Oh how I suffer!
i hear rumbling about the rank and file not having the same zeal they had when new.. lets see: door to door at the time least likely to find someone.
waste of a whole morning.
isolated.
I would add the change in music. Some of the old songs had the ability to stir the spirit in people so to speak.
The new songs seem to have disoriented the flock for the most part.
anybody else in congregations that have parties in october for kids to dress in costumes and pick pumpkins, parties in november with turkey, fixings and candles, and parties in december with red and green colors and baking similar looking snow-themed desserts?
(not to mention the spiffy new wardrobes for easter.
i mean memorial season.
Holidays exist for a reason. They mark time, force people to slow down and think about the concepts that tie humans together.
Thats a pretty powerful thing to eliminate without replacing.
Big mistake on the part of the Org
When I was "in" I always bought my kids Halloween costumes the day after (reduced prices at least) along with tons of candy.
We always did a Turkey on T-day (because its cheap dontcha know) and I always took the kids to a lodge with snow for skiing at Xmas.
All in an attempt to give them the best of all worlds.
Now they are all "out" of the Org with me and life is so easy just letting things flow as they will.
i don't know what i am talking about... read this post at your peril.
back in the 1960s there was, seemingly, a brief period of relaxation in authoritarianism among jehovah's witnesses.
those who have read raymond franz's 'crisis of conscience' will have heard the story about dan sydlik's remark about the need to 'open some windows to let some air in here'.
Well I had to go back and read the original post (great job).
The point that struck me is they need another oracle.
Every great (and not so great) religion has to have one to rally and inspire people.
Right now the GB is all drones and no charisma.
at 95 , queen elizabeth is one sharp lady.
she lauded those people that helped break up a terrorist attack.
she didn’t take any crap from prince andrew and told him to take a hike.
She has done her job amazingly well and with much dedication.
was visiting with some old friends a while ago, and got to hear some interesting updates about their congregation.. there is a new family moved in, from the ukraine, and are very zealous.
when giving their experience (they're quite new in the "truth") they feel strongly that the religion has changed their life.. they were ready to divorce, but from studying the bible, etc., they are now a happy family.. its really a yearbook type example that make a lot witnesses feel vindicated.. on the other extreme, in the same congregation, a teenager just graduating (an elders son) just up and left and moved in with a "worldly" family.
he told his parents he doesn't believe it's the truth, and actually believes in evolution.. he was being "encouraged" to get baptized, but he managed to avoid that.
Honestly? My first thought was that the Ukraine family is in the "honeymoon phase" of a new country and a semi new religous belief.
Maybe the plaster over the cracks will hold as time wears on and maybe it wont.
They certainly are not proof of anything yet - its all too new.
Isnt there a scripture that says let the one strapping on the sword not boast like the one taking it off?
Someone should read it at that Hall
some people on this forum have said that they never really believed any aspect of wt teaching, that they couldn't wait to get free of it all.. others seems to have been really gung ho, believing it all until something happened that got you questioning "the truth.".
i would say my own high water mark was about 50%, which put me squarely on the fence, trying to decide if i should be in or out.. how about you?.
I believed zero of what we were taught in the revelation book.
I did believe most of the Hebrew scriptures... the snake in the garden, the flood, Abraham becoming a mighty nation, etc.
I would have just not allowed myself to think about it mentally except for the harsh treatment of elders towards others along with seeing first hand their own large indiscretions.
Thats when I knew if I was a person of moral principle, I had to walk away.
Only after walking away did I begin to learn what a jumbled mess the teachings are.
here's the mormon's "gospel library", released 3 & 1/2 years earlier:.
.
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this is the first of many posts from me.
i'm pimo, an overseer, somewhere in africa.
i'll hold of giving further details until i've executed my plan to leave the organization.
Somebody go find a younger person to talk to Saorean!
Kidding....
I am over 50 too so I cant help with the younger thing but I can say that in my own growth out of the JWs I used a lot of resources.
What I found is people tend to use the platforms that suit them. Some of that is age related. I availed myself of all viewpoints and all mediums of learning. YouTube is great for that. Forums like this one are great for the encyclopedic amount of accumulated experience. A lot of ex elders are here which gives quite a bit of perspective.
And so it goes...I would say avail yourself of any and all methods of gaining support and tools for unlearning the dogma and getting support while doing so.
Nice to meet you and welcome!
today, while listening to a book that covered narcissism, i was a bit surprised to find a connexion with those “seeking privileges” in the organization.
while not being paid, pioneers, ministerial servants and elders invest a great level of time and effort in upholding their responsibilities.
fear of being destroyed by god for not doing enough.
Interesting that you used the word "fuel" to describe how they like the attention and power.
I have been reading a lot about narcissism lately- what it is (extreme lack of the ability to have empathy, undeveloped personality, cluster B disorder etc) and what it is not (loud, annoying, or selfish people necessarily) and that word "fuel" or "narcissistic supply" is so accurate.
So just as religion can be a pedophile heaven for its ready supply of trusting young people and their parents, religion can also be a ready source of compliant fuel for the narcissist.
Wonderful.
I just read an article about religious narcissists and it basically described most of the elders I ever met. Not all but most.
Great post Stephane, thank you.
